The latter was actually Garmin Barracuda’s protected rider for the stage, as the day’s winner revealed aferwards. “In fact, I launched the sprint for my brother,” Michel Kreder said. “But the crash changed things and we modified our strategy.”

Stage one winner and overnight leader Denis Galymzyanov crashed approximately seven kilometres from the finish, and was forced to withdraw from the race.

New leader Modolo is now on the same time as yesterday’s main aggressor Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha), with Kreder six seconds back in third.

Modolo’s directeur sportif Roberto Reverberi regretted a missed opportunity as regards the stage win, but has the jersey instead. “We had the victory in our grasp, we felt we could do it,” he said. “But we threw it to the wind, losing it through the attack of the Dutchman Kreder, who was also helped by a crash with 600 metres to go.”

The short 87.8 kilometre stage from Riaillé was marked by a breakaway move by David Le Lay (Saur-Sojasun) and Pierre Rolland (Europcar). They were away from kilometre 22, established an advantage of over two minutes, but the move was snuffed out twelve kilometres from the line.

The race continues this afternoon with a 6.8 kilometre time trial in Angers.

The win is Kreder’s third of the season. In February he picked up two victories in the Tour Méditerranéen, and also finished second overall there. That shows an all-round versatility that could serve him well in the current French race.